Thioxane sulphur trioxide addition compound



Patented Oct. 29, 1940 2,219,?48 T SULP21 'ron non Y coo I. h

Paul Nawiasky, Sut, d Gerhard Ewaid Sprenger, Westiieid, N. 3., assignors to General Aniline & Corporation, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application was 7, rest.

' Serial No. 260,330

s Claims. (oi. ace-set) This invention relates to new chemical compositions, the methods of their manufacture and their technical uses, and more particularly to the production and utilization of addition compounds of thioxane with sulphuric acid derivatives. Specifically our invention pertains to addition compounds of thioxane with sulphur trioxide and the use thereof as sulphonating' and sulphating agents.

certain new addition compounds of .thioxane-with sulphuric acid derivatives. I

It is also an object of our invention to develop a new sulphonating and sulphating agent.

velop an improved process for sulphonating and sulphating certain classes of organic compounds.

Further objects of our invention may be seen from the detailed description given below.

Addition compounds of thioxane and sulphuric acid derivatives such as sulphur trioxlde, chlorsulphonic acid, fluorsulphonic acid, etc. have never been prepared hitherto. I hese addition compounds are of great importance in industrymaterials, the separation or which from the useful compounds is diflicult and frequently renders their production commercially unprofitable.

-. Addition compounds of basic compounds with sulphuric acid derivatives are known and have been used as sulphonating'agents, e. g. the addition' compound of pyridine with sulphurtrioxide .(Baumgarten Ber. 59, 1976 (1926)). It is also common knowledge that the undefined addition compounds of alkyl ethers with chlorsulphonic acid or sulphur trioxide are sulphonating agents which are often usedin preference to the free sulphuric acid derivatives in spite 01 the easy inflammability of ethers and the fire hazard addition compounds'oi a cyclic ether,J1-4 diox- It is an object of our invention to prepare It is a further object of our invention to de-.

thus involved. More recently. the sulphuric acid one, have been suggested as an improved sulphonating agent. j

We have now found that 1-4 thioxane of the formula:

- HsC CHa Ha H3 o which is a cyclic ether and a weak in the form of its sulphonium compound, reacts with certain sulphuric acid derivatives in a manner analogous to dioxane, but reacts in an entirely unexpected way with others. Thus it reacts with sulphur trioxide inanalogy to die r to form coordination compounds such as may be presented by the formula:

o crn-om I and I CBS-OH:

. cm-om j Z. A These products are white solids which are ditficultly soluble in solvents such as benzene, ethylene dichloride and carbon tetrachloride and which compounds are characterized by their sur-- prising stability against heat in that they do not decompose in the above mentioned solvents even when heated to boiling under atmospheric pressure. However, they do decompose easily in water due to hydrolysis to reform unchanged thioxane and .sulphuric acid.

'On the other hand, thioxane, incontrast to dioxane reacts in ,a diflerent way with chlor sulphonic acid, by partly-decomposing the chlorsulphonic acid into sulphur t'rioxide and hydrochloric acid. The torme'dsulphur trioxide adds to thioxane to give the coordination compoumis while the hydrochloric acid escapes from the reaction mixture. If dioxane, under. similar cir-' cumstances is used, no evolution of hydrochloric acid takes place. This difference in. the reaction of thioxane and dioxane with chlorsulphonlc Mid makes the thioxane chlorsulphonic acid reaction product an improved sulphonating agent as com-v pared with the 'dioxane chlorsulphonic acid re-- action product by reason of the removal of substantial amounts of hydrochloric acid, originating from the 'chlorsulphonic acid, in the case of the use of thioxane, whereas the hydrochloric acid is not removed at all when dioxane is used. Virtually, therefore, the easily manipulated chlorsulphonic acid, in connection with thioxane, can, for all practical purposes,.be substituted for free $03 which is not commercially available as such being supplied only' in the form of its solution in sulphuric acid, from which it must be regenerated when its use in. the free form is desired. Another improvement will become obvious from the use of thioxane as a sulphonating aid.

After the completion of a sulphonation reaction it is, in most cases, desirable to remove the sulphonating aid, whether it is pyridine, ethers, acid anhydrides, dioxane or thioxane,from the sulphonated material. The easiest removal in practically all cases is by steam distillation which also removes solvents which may have been used as diluents in the sulphonation. The recovery of pyridine and dioxane from a steam distillation condensate is rendered difiicult by reason of their easy solubility, even miscibility with the water, from which'they can only be recovered by salting outor .if possible by extraction with waterinsoluble solvents. miscible with water and isonly 'slightly'soluble in water and can, therefore,: be recovered from. it by a mere gravity separation, since it is heavier than water and forms the bottom layer in mixtures therewith. This easy and more complete recovery of solvent and sulphonating aid represents a marked improvement inall cases where.

it is used and may" even be a decisive factor in cases where a relatively cheap sulphonated product is obtained.

5 further advantage of thiosane is its relatively high boiling point of about 150 C. Dioxane and pyridine have lower boiling points of approximately 100 C; The higher boiling point of thiox-.

groups, with bisulphites, and other methods. We

are, however, not concerned with such special methods and prefer to confine our considerations to common sulphonating agents such as belong to the class which wehave enumerated above and prise reacting the compounds to be sulphonated which will be referred. to later on assulp'honating agents. in a sense that this term will denote such agents whether theyare used to form ,sul-

phuric acid esters, true sulphonic acids or both.

The advanced methods of sulphonation comwith sulphonating agents in'the presence ofsolvents which act merely as diluents for the purpose of delocalizi'ng the reaction and of distributing the] heat of the sulphonation reaction. A

i more advanced method is to treat thecompounds in the presence of a sulphonating aid, the purpose of which, generally speaking, is to ease the violence of the sulphonationreaction by bringing the sulphonating agent first into reaction with a sulphonating aid, that is a compound which forms with it an intermediate compound under the W0- Thioxane, however,. is notperatures below room temperature.

containing carbonyl lution of substantial heat of reaction. The intermediate compound subsequently reacts with the compound to be sulphonated with the evolution of the direct heat of sulphonation diminished by that amount of. heat which was evolved in the -formation of the intermediate compound. The

Frequently, sulphonations of sensitive compounds such as secondary. alcohols are carried out in solution and at lower temperature than room temperature and require expensive cooling with ice or refrigerated brine. Furthermore, in many cases, sulphonations must be carried out at low temperatures and in such a way that the reaction is carried out in a relatively short time in order to prevent the sulphonation product from decomposing in its acid state. We have now found that the use of thioxane as a sulphonation aid obviates in many cases the maintenance of reaction tem- In some cases we have found that the use of thioxane as the sulphonation aid permits the sulphonation of certain materials to be conducted at or even above 1 room "temperature without the formation of undesired by-products. This is a marked advantage since these reaction temperatures can be easily and inexpensively maintained by cooling with tap water. Furthermore, we have'found that in the presence of thioxane the acid sulphonation products are more stable than in the absence of thiacids. This is shown by the fact that our -prod-.

ucts are obtained in a substantially quantitative yield from an olefine and sulphur trioxide in the molecular ratio of 1:1. As a consequence of the mildness of our new sulphonation method we are able to practically exclude side reactions. The fact that our products consist of olefinic sulphonic acids is further proven by analysis and by the I fact that our compounds have the ability to add iodine, said addition-of iodine being a common reaction for testing. for the presence of carbon atoms linked by a double bond. From the foregoing it is clear that in our process the sulphonating agent or sulphur trioxide reacts with they olefine by way of sustitution rather than by addition.

Certain surface-active sulphonated derivatives of olefinic hydrocarbons have been prepared hitherto, such as e. g. described in U. S. Patent 2,061,617. The compounds described therein are derived from aliphatic hydrocarbons, having a *double bond ,at the end of the carbon chain, by

treatment with strong sulphonating agents, in the presence of ,a sulphonating catalyst, and, treating the reaction product with a hydrolysing agent.

amends The chemical. composition of the products disclosed hitherto has not been definitely determined. It is believed, however, that the products obtained are most probably hydroxy sulphonic acid derivatives of aliphatic saturated hydrocarbons in which a hydroxy group and a sulphonic acid group occur on the two carbon atoms which in the original olefine were linked thro a double bond.

Similar reaction products from oleflnes, con taining non-terminal double bonds are mentioned in U. S. Patent 2,098,114. Sulphonation products of Z-pentene and of olive oil are described, both of the products obtained by the interaction of sulphur trioxide and an olefinic material by using more than 1 molecule of sulphonating agent for l I molecule of olefinic material; a V

In a recent publication by C. M. Suter, P. B. Evans and James M. Kieferffiiourhal of the American Chemical Society 1938 page 538, it is pointed out that by the action of an excess of sulphonating agent on straight chain terminal double bond olefines there are primarily formed olefinic sulphur trioxide addition products of the carbyl sulphate type which-may be describedby the formula:

Ramona, RHO.CH.R:'

7 It would, therefore, appear from this article that hydroxy sulphonic acid type compounds, when starting from olefinic material, can only be formed by the-action of 2molecules of sulphur trioxideon one molecule of oleflnic material.

,It, therefore, appears that in contrast to our present process the sulphon-ation of olefinic ma:- terials as carried out by the prior art has been effected by way. of addition rather than substitution. We have not endeavored to determine the exact constitution of our new sulphonic acid products beyond the fact that they consist of unsaturated hydrocarbon sulphonic acids. An exact determination of constitution would involve the determination of the unknown structure of many'of the olefines whicliwe have found useful for the production of our new compounds. However, the various types of olefines which we have subjected to "sulphonation according to our process have all-been found to react in. a similar way to give, when treated with one molecule of sulphur trioxide, virtually one molecule of olefinic sulphonic acid. The types of olefines used by us comprise various straight or branch chain olefines and tertiary .oleflnes having a branch chain on an unsaturated carbon atom. Our sulphonation products, therefore, correspond to the 1 general formula:

ni-czc-n,

x Y where either R1 or Ra-may be a hydrogen atom sulphonic acid of the formula regarded as restricted thereto.

or both straight or branch chain substituted or untituted hydrocarbon radicalsand at least one X or Y y be a hydrogen atom and the other a hydrogen atom or a straight or branch chain alkyl radical, but in no case should X, Y and. one of the His be a hydrogen atom at the same time, one of the hydrogen atoms, either on the'double bond or in one of the alkyl groups being substituted by a sulphonic acid group.

- Accordingly, the unsaturated hydrocarbons employed in our invention may be any aliphatic unsaturated hydrocarbon, substituted, or not r from 5-36 carbon atoms and having at least one hydrogen atom attached to a carbon atom carrymg a double bond. Also mixtures of such oleflnes may be plcyed which may contain unsaturated hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, straight chain olefines, branch chain olefliues and tertiary olefines in the presonce or absence of saturated hydrocarbons which may act as diluents during the process of sulphonation. ples of specific olefines useful for conversion into oleidne sulphonic acids are: all-pentenes or lanes, all hexaues, heptenes, ccte'nes, nonenes and the like falling within the definition mven above.

Such olcfines may be derived from primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols by dehydration,

or from halogenated hydrocarbons by dehalogenation or from saturated hydrocarbons through crashing or catalytic dehydrogenation, or they may be obtained by the dinieriand polymerination of olefincs such as propylene, butylenes and isobutylenes, pentenes or amylenes, hexenes und'isohexenes and the like. They may also be obtained by the decarboxylation of unsaturated Also halogen substituted clednes are suitable in the purfatty acids and by many other ways.

suit of our invention and may be obtained by the conversion of unsaturated aliphatic hydroxy compounds into the corresponding halogen coma pounds, or by the partial dehalogcnation of polyhalogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons or by the addition of halohydrides to allsylacetylenes etc.

In prep the addition products of thioxane andsulphur trioxide which are the subject of .our invention we can proceed in various ways: We can first prepare the sulphur trioxide addition compound with thloxane preferably in a solvent which is inert to the action of our improved sulphonating agent. We can prepare it by adding sulphur trioxide or cbloro'sulphonic acid to the solvent and then adding the mixture to the thioxane or we can add the sulphonating agent to the solvent-sthloxane mixture. Gene, a white precipitate forms in the reaction mixture which may be employed without further treatment as a sulphonating agent. 'The 'white precipitate may be separated by filtration and used'as a sulphonating agent to be added to the-material to be sulphonated. We can also add the sulphonatlng'agent in the form of sulphurtriorride or preferably chlorosulphonic acid to amixturefof a solvent; thioxaneand the material to be sulphonated.

Details of the production of our new compound and some of their uses will be more clearly demonstrated n the following examples. It is to be" understood that the following examples are merely illustrative ahd'our'invention is not to be Example L- To a solution of 52 parts by weight of thioxane in 3'70 partsby weight of carbon tetrachloride there were gradually added, while agitating, 63.5. parts weight of chlorosulphonic acid. During the addition of the acid, a white precipitate appeared in the reaction mixture with considerable evolution of gaseous hydrochloric acid and of heat, so that, in order to maintain the reaction mixture at room temperature, cooling was necessary. After the completion of the addition of the acid, the reaction, mixture was heated to C. whereupon more hydrochloric acid was evolved. By filtering the reaction mixture and washing the solids with carbon tetrachloride, 104 parts of undried solids were .obtained, which can be kept without decomposition. The composition'of the solids, as determined by an analysis, was as follows:

- Per cent This analysis corresponds to a molecular thioxane-sulphur trioxide ratio of 1:0.985.

To the unfiltered reaction mixture as obtained above there was added, while agitating, an additional portion of 60 parts of chlorsulphonic acid. No heat or hydrochloric acid was, however, evolved and part of the precipitate was found dissolved in the chlorsulphonic acid which,- on stand ing, formed the bottom layer of the reaction mixture.

Example 2.To a mixture of 63.5 parts by weight of chlorsulphonic acid and 370 parts by weight of carbon tetrachloride there were added without .cooling within 10 minutes 52 parts of thioxane. The temperature of the reaction mixture rose from 28 to 40 C. while a white precipit'ate appeared with a vigorous evolution of hydrochloric acid gas. After filtering the reaction mixture and washing the solids with carbon tetrachloride, there were obtained 106 parts of solids of the following analysis:

Per cent 'I'hinxane 49.6 $0: 39.9 HCl 2.9

Solvent 7.6

. by filtration and dried in vacuo. The 'dry solid thus obtained is stable up to a temperature 'of 124 C. where it begins to melt with partial decomposition. An analysis indicated the solid -to consist of:

43.3% sulphur trioxide and 56.2% thioxane.

This composition corresponds with the formula:

which is that of the addition compound of I thioxane with one molecule of sulphur trioxide. The addition compound is dimcultly soluble in carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, ethylene chloride and benzene, slightly soluble in ethyl ether, 2.2 dichloro ethyl e her and isopropyl ether and easily soluble in thioxane from which it can be recrystallized in well defined crystals of an unchanged chemical composition.

Recrystallization in thioxane of the solid material, obtained in Examples 1 and 2, from chlorosulphonic acid yielded crystals which are identical with those obtained from sulphur trioxide.

Ezcample 4.To a solution'of 52 parts of thioxane in 400 parts of carbon tetrachloride there were distilled from a flask, containing fuming sulphuric acid, parts of sulphur trioxide while maintaining the reaction temperature at 30 C. A'white precipitate appeared which was treated as described in Example 8. A white, soft solid was obtained which was found to sinter at 98-99 C., with evolution of sulphur trioxide. An analysis indicated its composition as:-

60.1 sulphur trioxide 39.3% thioxane whereas the composition of the compound represented'by the formula Gui-0H,, 0:3(0 s)s.o$ cm-cm calculates to I 60.6% sulphur trioidde and 39.4% thioxane The prepared material is alsodiflicultly soluble described in Example 3. I

Example 5.To a mixture of 350 parts by weight of ethylenechloride and 52 parts by weight of thioxane there were added gradually 65 parts'by weight of chlorosulphonic acid. .To the resulting reaction mixture, containing the solid addition compoundof thioxane and sulphur trioxide, there was added at 40 C. 112 parts by weight of tetra isobutylene, of the boiling point tion was obtained. This was neutralized at 10C.

with a caustic soda solution and the neutral mixture heated with steam to remove the solvents. The residual aqueous solution was dried and the residue extracted with methanol. From the extract there were obtained, after evaporating the methanol, 147 parts by'weight of a-brittle, somewhat hygroscopic, white material, which is pure tetra isobutylene sodium sulphonate. The methanol-insoluble-part consisting mainly of mineral salts, amounted to 15 parts by weight.

Example 63-40 parts by weight of sulphur trioxide were added to a mixture of 350 parts by weight of carbon-tetrachloride and 52 parts by weight of thioxane, while maintaining the reaction temperature at 30 C. Finally 35 parts by weight of 2-pentene were added and the mixture was agitated until all solids had disappeared. On standing, the reaction mixture separated into two layers, the upper viscous layer containing the formed 2-.pentene sulphonic acid. After there were obtained parts by weight of dry Z-pentene sodium sulphonate, which is a very. hysroscopic, glass-like'materiai.

the neutralization of this top layer with caustic soda,

Example 7.-To a sulphonation mixture con slsting of the reaction product of I 13.5 parts by weight of thioxane 15 parts byweight of chlorsulphonic acid in 38 parts by weight of carbontetrachloride there were added, at room temperature; 9.8'parts or pure benzene. After agitating for 24. hours at no substantiai'reaction with the benzene had occurred.

Example d.--To a solution of 200 parts by weight of benzene as parts by weight of naphthalene and 52 parts by weight of thioxane cl-naphthalene sodium sulphonate.

Example 9.--Tothe reaction product of- 52 parts by weight or thioxane and 65 parts by weight of chlorosulphonic acid in (l!) parts by weight oi carbon tetrachloride,

prepared as described in Example 1, there were added, at room temperature 120 parts by weight of secondary alcohols. These alcohols comprised a, mixture or secondary alcohols oi the probable formula Boner-m R and R denoting allryl radicals, containing from '7 to 9 carbon atoms, the mixture having an averagehydroay value of 240. This alcohol mixture was obtained by the hydrogenation-or ketones whichin turn were prepared by condensing a certain fraction of aliphatic monocarboxylic acids as derived from parafdrles 'loy oxidation. The sulphonation of the alcohols, which, as we know, can not be car ried out in the absence of sulphonatio'n aids without the-formation of unsuiphonated ivy-products, was compietedupqn-the disappearance oi: the solid thioxame-suiphur trioxide addition product. Thereaction mixture was neutralized by pouring it into a caustic soda solution containing ice. The neutralized meme separated into two lay= the butanol layer evaporated to dryness.

to be sodium sulpho methallyl chloride of the formula NaOsS(CH: C (CH3) CHzCl) Example 11.-Into a'mixture of 35 parts of di ethyl ether and 35 parts of chlorosulphonic acid therewere charged at a temperature of 5-10" C.

45 parts of olefines, V

obtained by the dehydration of secondary alcohols such as were used in Example #9. Due to the evolution of a considerable amount of heat,

a gradual charging of the oleilnes under good cooling of the reaction vessel is required. After the completion of the addition oithe olefines. the clear solution was stirred forfib minutes at 5-10 C. It was then neutralized by pouring into. ice containing caustic soda solution. The neutral reaction mixture was then shaken. with butanol and An oily substance was obtained which emulsified in water. The oily material was taken up in a mixture of equal parts of methanol and water and then shaken with petrol ether. The aqueous methanol layer and the petrol ether layer were, dried separately and there were obtained;

12 parts oi a water soluble waxy solid from th aqueous methanol layer-and 1 3% parts of oil from the petrol ether layer.

An analysis or the solid gave the following result:

- I Per cent Chlorine"-.. 0.85 Total sulphmx. .l3.'74=

Sodium sulphate ash--..'. 35.85

ers, the bottom layer containing the solvents and cry of carbon tetrachloride and thloxane. The

residual aqueous liquor was concentrated and yielded 260 parts or a wet paste containing approximately 1% parts of sodium alkyl sulphates which are clearly soluble in water to form surface active solutions. I we Example ill -The solids obtained in Example 1 were charged into a mixture of Bill parts'by weight of carbon tetrachloride and ass parts by weight of methallylchloride of the formula CHz;G(CHs)CHsCl. e

The reaction mixture was stirred for '5- hours at 50 C. after which, time all of the solids had disappeared. (in standing" there appeared in stead a viscous oily layer onrthe' solvent which contained chlor-methallyl sulphonic acid. The

layer was separated. neutralized with soda solution and dried.

94 parts by weight of a glassy, hygroscopic solid were obtained, the analysis of which'indicated it indicating for its composition:

iced, NaCl 0.24% NazSOe and 89.36% of an organic sulphonated terial, containing I v 13.1% organically combined sulphur.

'The sodium salt of an olefine sulphonic acid, de

rived from an olefine oi the molecular weight oi 222 would contain 9.86% organically combined sulphur, and a corresponding sulphuric acid ester would contain still less, indicating that the sulphonated compound obtained in a rather incomplete yield can only contain the sulphonic acid derivative of the original olezdne in. a small proportion. I

- Ecrmrrpie ra s. solution containin 350 parts of ethylene chloride and 4% parts oi iii dicxane was cooled 65 parts oi chlorsulphonic acid to c" c. and

iii)

were added while maintaining the temperature 7 at 9 0. 'Ihe reaction ture was then cooled to -10" C. and while maintainingthis temperature a mixture of ico parts of ethylene chloride and 112 parts of tetraisobutylene, 1 a

were gradually added while agitating. After the solution was dried and extracted with boilingmethanol. 0n cooling white characteristic crystals precipitated I from the methanol solution, which were separated by filtration. The filtrat on drying, left a white solid which is clearly soluble in water to give surface-active solutions. The yield of materials obtained was as follows:

- 21.4 parts of unsulphonated oilymaterial 28.1 parts or material,

sulphur and which also'possessed the property of adding iodine. This product, therefore, consists of tetrais'obutylene sodium sulphonate. The

percentage yield of the theoretical is, therefore. m as follows:

63% tetraisobutylene sodium sulphonate 13.2% diisobutylene sodium sulphonate 19.1% unreacted tetr'aisobutylene (oil), with a total recovery of 85 95.3% of reaction materials.

Conducting the reaction at higher temperatures decreased the yield of tetraisobutylene sulphonate.

so Example 13.Into a solution of 300 parts of ethylenechloride and 52 parts oi thioxane there were charged at 40 C. 60 parts of chlorsulphonic acid and then 84 parts of triisobutylene oi the boiling point of 179 C. The reaction mixture was agitated until all solid matter had dissolvedand then said mixture was neutralized at 10 C. with caustic soda solution. Alter the removal of the solvents by steam distillation a clear solution was obtained which, on evaporation, yields ysis, is practically pure triisobutylene sodium sulphonate, containing approximately 12% audiumchloride as the only impurity. The solid exhibits surface-active properties.

Emmple ,14.-'ro a solution of 52 parts of thioxane and 300 parts of ethylene chloride there are added, under agitation, 65 parts of chlorsulphonic acid, followed by 70 parts of a mixture 60 Example 15 144 parts of commercial oleylchloride were added to the reaction product of 52 parts of thioxane-and .3 65 parts oi chlorsulphonic acid in 350 parts of ethylene chloride at 40' to 50 ,and'the mixture agitated until a homogeneous liquid was obtained. The reaction mixture was then neutralized with soda ash solu-' tion. The neutralized liquid separated intotwo layers, the lower containing the formed 1-ch1or- 0 octadecylene sodium 'sulionate, dissolved in separated and the solvents removed byflsteam 15 distillation. remaining aqueous solution is a white, brittle solid which, according to analthioxane and ethylene chloride. Thisilayer is concentrated to yield the above-named compound in the form 01' a soap-like brownish material which is soluble in water and which displays surface-active properties.

Example 16.Into 300 partsoichloroform 5 containing the product formed bythe action of 40 parts of sulphur trioxide and 152 parts oi thioxane, there were charged under agitation at 0 C. 56 parts oicommerciahdFisobutylene of the boiling point 100-1035C. The composition 10 of commercial di-i'sobutyleneis:

- 1 Per cent 2.4.4. trimethyl pentene-l 80 2.4.4. trimethyl pentene-2 In the course of one to two hours'the solid sulphur-trioxide-thioxane product disappeared, in-

dicating the completion of. the sulphonation. The reaction mixture was neutralized with caus-' tic soda solution and then steam distilled tor the '90 removal of the solvents. The residual opaque gel, on drying. leaves a brittle white solid which is di-lsobutylene sodium sulphonate. It is sparingly soluble in cold and moderately soluble in hot isopropanol from whichv it can be recrystallized in light needle-like crystals. The product forms lathery aqueous solutions oi good wetting strength. and which product is identical with the diisobutylene sodium sulphonate obtained as a I by-product in Example 12. 80

Example 17. To the reaction'product of 52 parts by weight of thioxane and 65 parts by weight of chlorsulphonic acid in 300 parts by weight of ethylene chloride there were added, at

room' temperature, 56 parts by weight of iso-oci6 tenes of the boiling point106-108 C. which were obtained as the polymerization products of isobutylene with normal butylenes. Aitercompletion of the sulphonation the reaction mixture is neutralized with caustic soda solution and the solvents are steam distilled on. The remaining aqueous solution is evaporated to dryness to yield 106 parts of iso-octene sodium sulphonates, a white, brittle solid which can be ground to a powder. It is soluble in water and ethyl alcohol and difllcultl soluble in hydrocarbon solvents. It displays surface-active properties.

Example 18.Higher olefinlc hydrocarbons were prepared as follows: The polymerization product oi isobutylene and N-butylenes, boiling between .106 and 108 C. and known as co-polymer were subjected to a treatment with aluminum chloride at 10 C. After the removal of the aluminum chloride; the resulting oil. was steam-distilled for the separation of lower oles fines. The residual oil was fractionated in vacuo and the following fractions were obtained:

- I. Boiling at 10 mm. up to a temperature of 0. n. Boilmg'at 2 mm. between 110 tof c.- III. Residue.'

183 parts of Fraction I were charged, at room temperature, into the reaction mixture obtained 1 by adding 90 parts of chlorosulphonic acid into 65 the solution of 100 parts ofthioxane in 200 parts of ethylene dichloride. After approximately '30 minutes a dark red solution was obtained which I was naitrallzed at 10 C. with a caustic soda solution. The neutral solution was. steam dls- 7'0 tilled tor the removal oi'ethylene dichloride and thioxamet The residue, was dried, taken up in cold methanol and the methanol solution ex- 7 tracted twice with petrol ether. The methanol. layer on drying, left parts bi a soap-like mass 75 which is readily soluble in both organic solvents and water to give solutions which are highly surface-active in that they can be easily emulsifled in water or organic solvents.

solutions show great wetting strength and detergent action.

Example 19.-To a mixture oi 1'75 parts of ethylenechloride and 52 parts oi thioxane I there were charged, at room temperature, 65 parts of chlorosulphcnic acid. The reaction mixture was heated to boiling under areflux condenser for 3 minutes to remove mostoi they.

hydrochloric acid vapors and then'cooled to 25 C. Then there were charged at once 17. 5 parts of Z-pentene and the reaction mass heated to 50-60 C. and stirred until, in, the course of two to three hours all solids had dissolved. The reaction'mixture was then neutralized at 10 by passing into caustic soda solution. The neutral solution separated into two layers; the auueous layer, containing the neutral reaction products, is dried to give 88 parts of a white solid, which has the following composition.

2.61% sodium chloride 18.5% sodium sulphate and 83.89% of an organic material,

containing 21.6% organically combined sulphur. A compound of e. g. the formula CHa.CE.CH.CHz.CHa

OgNls OJNS contains 21.90% organically combined sulphur,

' whereas a Z-pentene sodium sulphonate contains 18.6% organically combined sulphur. The ana1-' ysis indicates, therefore, that the greater part of the sulphonated material contained in the analyzed product consists of compounds which are more highly sulphonateol than -2-pent ene sodium sulphonate.

Ewmpie 20.Eligher oleiiriic hydrocarbons were prepared from a of. 1 oi decenes, com

mercially available under thename oi diamylenes, in a manner described-in the following. Redistilled commercial di-amylenes oi the boiling point 150-170" C. were pol c," v13. at 0 C. in the presence or aluminum chloride. The aluminum chloride was removed from the resulting oil which after the separation of unh ymerizecl di aznylenes, was divided by distillation into threefractions I. Boiling at 10 mm. between tic-13c 0.. 1 11. Rolling at ill between ltd-17o 8.; III. Residue boiling at 10 above 170 C.

198 parts oiFractionI were charged at -10 G. into the reaction mixture oi as parts of thioxane and 50 parts oi? sulphur trlonlde in 525 parts oi carbontetrachloride. After so minutes of stirring the reaction mass was neutralizedwith. caustic soda solution. The neutral solution was steam distilled for the removal of the carbontetrachlorirle and most of the thioxane. The residue was dried, taken up in methanol and the methanol solution extracted twice with petrol ether. The methanol layer, on drying, left 204 parts of a yellow rubbery substance which is readily soluble in soft and hard water as well :as in organic solvents. The'suhstance is an ex cellent; wetting agent and a very effective detergent;

Example 21 .-To a The aqueousmixture of 350 parts or ethylene chloride and '78 parts of thloxane there were added 60 parts of chlorsulphonic acid. The temperature was raised to .509 C. and 119 parts of ,heptadecy'lene were added. The heptadecylene material contains as'itsonly impurity a small amount of miheralsalts. 'lZt is soluble in water,

alcohol and most organic solvents and has very "valuable surface-active properties.

Example 22.-.+Into a solution of 52 parts of thioxane in 300 parts of carbontetrachloride there were distilled, from a flask'contaimng' fumins; sulphuric acid, 40 partsoi sulphur trioxide. Into the reaction mixture; containing theinsoluble addition product of sulphur trioxide and thioxane, therewere chargedat 20 (3., 130 parts Q of a poly isooutylene fraction,- boiling within a temperature range-of 130 -170. G. at 10 mm. mercury pressure. This fraction-was obtained from a to of polymerized dliscbutylene formed by the action of boron fluoride on dl-isobutylene of" the boiling point of -103 C. Alter one hour of agitation a clear wine-red solution was obtained, indicating the c'ompletion of the sulphonation. The reaction mixture was neutralized at 10 C. with caustic soda solution and the solvents were removed by steam dlstillationirom the slightly alkaline mass until a clear gel was obtained which, on drying, yielded an almost white rubbery solid consisting of practically pure higher olefine sulphonic acid salts. Traces of.

mineral salts may be removed from it by e'x-- traction with methanol, ethyl alcohol, benzene,

a gasoline fractionor a like solvent. 'The extract, on evaporation, yields'a'mixture of. pure olefine sodium sulphonates which have been found to be extremely valuable surface-active products.

The above examples demonstrate methods of producing reaction products of thioxane 'with'sulphuric acid derivatives and a few typical uses for which they may be employed. *The examplesmerely illustrate some preferred embodiments of our invention since it is obvious that. other sulphurlc acid derivatives than sulphur trionide or chlorsulphonic acid may be used. Tocite a few others, we note that fluorsulphonic acid, sulphuryi chloride, methyl sulphonic acid and. other compounds are useful sulphonating agents which may he used either alone in the presence of thioxane or in combination with. hydrocarbons,

ethers, polyethers, inorganic and organic acid anhydrides, acid chlorides and the like.

It is obvious that a great number of uses can be io'und for our new sulphonation aid. We cite for instance the sulphonation of hydroxy com pounds to the corresponding sulphuricacid esters. Such esters have many applications and are employed as useful surface-active materials in many industries. They may be employed as chemicalintermediates, as water soluble dyestufis and as dyestufis for the printing of textiles.

'It would lead thiscase too far afield to enumerate th different groups of hydroxy compounds the "sulpho derivatives of" which have become useful. Suflice to say, however, our combination of thioxane with sulphonating' agents may be empioyedin the treatment of primary, secondary and tertiary mono and poly hydroxy derivatives of substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic and,aromatic hydrocarbons, of ethers, poly ethers, acids, esters, amines and other compounds. a The foregoing examples also show, thatsulphonating agents in the presence of thioxane are capable of selective sulphonation of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Thus, our combination, may ,be used with advantage for the selective sulphonation of aromatic hydrocarbons and for sulphonations under mild conditions in order to eliminate or decrease the formation of undesired by-products. It is, of course; obvious that the hydrocarbons to be treated may be substituted by halogen, and/or nitro groups. and they may contain ether linkages, carbonyl groups and carboxylic acid groups which latter may be free or'esterified. Certain of the foregoing examples demonstrate some of the olefine sulphonic acid compounds of our invention and .the procedures by which they may be obtained. Our examplesfurthermore indicate that although oleflne sulphonic acid compounds may alsobe formed by sulphonating an olefine in the absence of thioxane, frequently'in this case, especially when using higher oleflnes, a scission or the double bond of the-original ole fine occurs under the formation of lower oleflnes and olefine sulphonic acid compounds. Such a scissionof the double bond prevents the complete sulphonation of an olefine when molecular quantities of the olefine and sulphonating agents are employed, whereas the use 'of an excess of sulphonating agent results in the formation of more highly sulphonated products which may be either compounds of the carbylsulphate type or sulphonic acids of lower 'olefines formed by the splitting up of the originalolefines. Sulphonating a invention are extremely useful compounds olefines of the types as specified above, in the presence of thioxane, however, leads tmthe uni- ,formxfonnation of sulphonic acid compounds of the unchanged oleflnes whenone molecule of sulphonating agent or less is used per one molecule of olefine'whereas. the use of an excess of sulphonating agent results in the formation of highnating therespective lower oleflnes with an equi molecular amount of sulphonating agent.

The olefine sulph'onic acid compounds of our since a number of them in the form of their sodium, potassium, ammonium or other salts of a monovaient base are highly surface-active materials in that they show great wetting, deterging and emulsifying strength. No attempt has been here made to define the fields of usefulness of the oleflne sulphonic acids prepared as described above since the same would necessarily be iii-'- treating'agents with or without the addition of other 'known materials having surface active properties.

We claim: 1. Thioxane sulphur pounds of the formula:

trioxide addition comwherein n is a whole number selected from the group consisting of 1 and 2.

2. Thioxane sulphur trioxide pounds of the formula:

orb-cm 3. Thioxane sulphur trioxide addition compoundsof the formula; 1

I CHr-CH:

4. The processwhich comprises reacting a sulphuric acid derivative selected from the group addition comconsisting of fuming sulphuric acid, sulphur tri-- oxide, sulphuryl chloride, methyl sulphonic acid, chlorsulphonic acid and fluorsulphonic acid with thioxane thereby forming a thioxane-sulphur trioxide' addition compound.

5. Theprocess of forming thioxane-sulphur 

